Beach

"H-Hey, wait, don't cry!" Aoi panicked, regretting having pried in now. "Hold on, just... just tell me about this person, okay? Good things about them."

Maybe that'd make her feel better - happy memories of this person?

Fubuki immediately threw off the man's hand. She didn't really want to be touched at all at the moment. In any way. Looking up at Aoi, tears still filling her eyes, Fubuki attempted to explain. "W-well, h-her name... w-was... was... C-cyan," was all she managed to get out. The memories were just too painful for her, the sight of Cyan's face after death overwhelming Fubuki's mind. There was no escape, no matter how hard she tried to think of any other day, all she could see was Cyan's death and how unpreventable it was.

"Cyan, huh...? That's cute, she's blue. Sounds like a fun person so far!" Aoi complimented this person Fubuki spoke of. Think positively! Such positivity will rub off, hopefully. Fubuki's reaction about the thought of this person led Aoi to suggestion that person was missing or... deceased. The China girl had no idea how to help people through such a thing, nor how to comfort them, so she worked with instinct. "The color blue is really nice, it represents Aqua Force and the ocean! I bet she really like the ocean, and enjoyed swimming! Do you like swimming, Fubuki? We could go find a pool and take a dip!"

Ultimately, she wound up diverting from the subject of Cyan by accident. Not good.

"Uh... I bet she had really cute taste in clothes. Do you wanna go shopping one of these days? You could show me the type of fashion that trends in Japan!"

Aoi's comments were not helping, though the change of topic was nice.. For now, the tears had stopped. "I-i... Uhm... T-that sounds like... It could be, uhh... Fun..." she managed to choke out.

Aoi approached her friend, and crouched down, placing hands on the crying girl's shoulders. "Fun, right? Your sweater is the cutest in the world, but I'm sure there's other pretty stuff you wear! And swimming is great, right? The cool, refreshing waves just smackin' into your sides..."

Okay, talking about Cyan didn't seem to do anything. So the China girl stuck with trying to change the topic again. Fun things to do, she spoke of. ... Which wound up leaving her fantasizing a bit about swimming. Water felt perfect on her skin. It only does if you play Aqua Force!

Okay it has nothing to do with Aqua Force but still.

"We can do a lot of fun stuff to make you smile, right?" Aoi asked her friend, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek, and wipe away a couple remaining tears tenderly with a thumb. All she could really offer was this and a gentle smile.

Aoi was way way too nice. "W-well... I-i've... Never actually gone swimming before..." Fubuki, despite having her name mean "Ocean Blizzard," had never actually been in the ocean that she lived so near to. Also, though she didn't want to mention it, Fubuki wasn't particularly interested in taking off the sweater. Ever. Despite how painful the memories of Cyan were, the sweater must have been left behind for a reason, right? It was a sign of hope for Fubuki that maybe one day she'd be able to change this world and its cruel ways of fate. "M-maybe tomorrow, I should... P-probably get home... I haven't been there for a while, and, uh... need to check up on some things."

"Whaaaat? We gotta go sometime soon then! I'm gonna look into nearby swimming pools!" Aoi declared, ready to now drag Fubuki into a plethora of fun and frivolous activities. In fact, she was even getting fired up about it, clenching her own fist! Though, her friend mentioned getting home. A couple of minutes ago, she looked like she was about to sleep on the sand...

Wait, home.

... Right, Aoi doesn't have a place to stay yet. Enough money for a hotel, at least.

"I can walk you back home!" She offered. Part of her wanted to go in Fubuki's house, but she decided to ease up on that. Personal space was already constantly invaded as it is.

"I, uh, well..."  The lack of choice Fubuki was given in this matter was more than a little appalling.  However, she didn't really feel like she could say anything.  Aoi was quite excited about it, after all.

Then Aoi offered to walk her home. "Oh, uhmm... S-sure... I-i'll show you the way..." Fubuki replied, more than a little relieved she would have someone to walk home with.

Satoshi had remained fairly silent through the girls' brief conversation. Mostly because of what the one he had attempted to console had said.

She knew Cyan.

The fact that others knew Cyan made him feel a little bit better about feeling the weight of her cessation of existence. He had seen the documents regarding the eliminated seeds in the process of determining the existence of his determination-driven gun. He had felt that pain.

This girl must have watched her perish. That could only have hurt worse.

Those two having left without much of an indication as to who they were in particular, Satoshi decided if he ever got a chance to talk with either of them again, he would likely ask about Cyan. With that decision in mind, he decided to travel elsewhere. The night was still young.

Xat was walking amongst the water on the beach deep in thought. That image she saw worried her and she ""Should I go?" She asked not to sure of what the right desion is. She let out a sigh and truned back walking to the slums. As she walked she closed her eyes and saw shirayuki and Leopalid next to each other, and her spirit animal right in front of them. She then opened her eyes and smiled softly, her units were behind her no matter what the outcome is. She will save Darren using both her legon, Shirayuki and Hyakku vouge.

Karin leaned against the railing above the edge of the platform on the rocky peninsula, staring out across the ocean. She had just finished her morning run, though she had barely broken a sweat. Her mind was too preoccupied with the events of the past few days to focus on her usual routine, and she found herself idle once again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her deck, flipping through it. Fingering out Dragonic Overlord The Great, she held it up against the sunlight.

"Why aren't you the same...?"

Karin had seen this exact view once before. Holding Overlord out against the ocean backdrop, the sun glistening against the Reality Bangle she had received from Yugure three months ago, wrapped snugly around her right wrist. She had seen it before, she was certain. And this should have been exactly the same. And yet... it wasn't. Everything was different. The bangle was different, and she had received it from Hikari, not Yugure. Its purpose was to combat these new enemies, the strange monsters that existed beyond the normal range of understanding and comprehension. And the ability to "Transcend", to perform the miracle ability Stride, was gone; Erased from existence by whatever those monsters referred to as "Sovereign". Even the Overlord she held before her now was different.

A name she couldn't recall. An important memory, a piece of history, lost.

Karin slipped the card back into her deckbox and returned it to her pocket. With a sigh, she lowered further into her lean, looking across the beach. Today was just like any other day.

Everything was as it should be. Everything was normal.

And that, in itself, was wrong.

"Miss Hikari, Overlord, all of the Resistance, and probably even Cray... Just what happened to it all...?"

After regaining his deck, Raiden decided to walk through the beach. He looked at his cards, seeing Autumn Rain Liberator, Coil. So much had happened in a short time. His deck was ruined and he helped Yukino with her work with the resistance. Now he had a new deck and he was only beginning to understand it.

"This is my bond," he said lightly to himself. "There is so much I have to learn to open it to others." He couldn't forget that this is what his Spirit Animal asked for as per his visit with Xat. Clearly Legion was a power designed to be a combination of bonds. He had to make certain he was worthy of that, but how to do it?

Looking ahead, he noticed a girl with a deck box. He walked up to her, stopping just before her as he said, "Were you looking to cardfight on the beach? Or could it be that something is on your mind?" He knew that if she wanted a fight, she probably wouldn't be here. A true fighter always has their deck with them, but they wouldn't look at it in such an area without a good reason.

Karin turned around, putting on her usual perky personality over her current downtrodden mood. She didn't exactly recognize the man in front of her, but he was clearly a vanguard player, and seemed to be offering her a fight. At least, that's how it seemed. "Ah, no, I'm alright. If you want a fight, I guess I wouldn't mind obliging. I'm Karin, by the way. Nice to meet you." She extended a hand and offered a shake. Well, at least this might help take her mind off all the confusion surrounding the monsters.

The idea that she wanted a fight was a little strange but also expected. He wasn't asking for one so outright. He could tell she was bothered. At the same time, he had no reason to refuse. He accepted her hand, taking it and gripping it with a shake. "My name is Raiden," he replied to her. "Fighter understand one another best through battle. If something is on your mind, we can see it through a Cardfight."

And so the two began their cardfight. Perditions versus Overlord, Kagero versus Gold Paladin, Dragon Empire versus United Sanctuary. It was a matchup Karin was all too familiar with, being one of the most common clashes in all of Cray's long history. Those that called upon their comrades again and again, and those that burned them away one after another. Though, Karin couldn't help but think... These Liberators were ones she had never seen before, they were clearly new, and yet, the name "Liberator" itself was familiar to her. Yugure, or perhaps Hikari, had used them before. At least, so Karin believed. She couldn't be quite sure of anything about her commander anymore, after all the things she seemed to be remembering wrong.

The match was an uphill battle for Karin the whole way through, despite her opponent admitting to be new to the deck. His movements were stiff and green, and his plays were, more or less, about what Karin expected to see. With Dragonewt's Trinity Crimson Flare followed by Overlord The Great's signature restand, Karin assumed she would have the win fairly easily. But, whether it was due to her own disconnect with the game at the moment, or simply beginner's luck, the victory never came. Her drive checks yielded the cards she wanted to draw, her draws yielding the heal triggers she wanted to drive and damage check, and she found herself staring down multiple Double Critical Checks, turn after turn. It didn't really bother Karin that much; Such was the nature of the game, and not every fight would go in her favor, even with Overlord backing her.

Though, the loss didn't help her mood at all. She wasn't angry, really, just upset with current events. With a disappointed sigh, Karin picked up her cards and tucked them back away. "Thanks for the fight, I suppose."

Walking past Raiden and moving to leave the platform, Karin stopped after just a few feet, and turned back around. "Not to sound sore about losing, or anything, but just to offer a bit of help... If you want to learn more about the Paladins, a friend of mine might be able to help you out. She's a good friend of the Resistance, if you're familiar with them. I work for their commander, so if you ever meet her, she'd probably be willing to teach you a few things. ...Er, well, anyway, bye, then."

With a little bit of an awkward farewell, Karin turned back around, and headed off back home.

So she was with the resistance. He turned quickly and responded to her as best as he could before she could leave. "That means you're friend is Yukino by change?" The name would immediately let her know that he knew her and the Resistance. He looked at his deck for a moment as he thought about the battle. His deck had become stronger. Still, he hoped that Karin was alright.

"The Resistance are battling the best that they can. She may be worried about the upcoming fights," Raiden muttered to himself. He started to walk away as well, the other direction from Karin. He had a lot of things to figure out about his deck and what it can do. He wanted to help his friends with this power, these bonds. Then again, he didn't really have friends yet. All he could do was protect the bonds others had.

Nope. No sign of him by the ocean.

Satoshi sighed. He had taken a detour through the woods to see if Haruka had wandered off there, with no luck. The same was so here. His next stop would likely be the mall, since there was a coffee shop there he could likely have come around to see.

In the meantime, while he didn't especially want to, he decided at least letting Yukino know where he was would make a difference:

Hey. I'm at the beach. I'm looking for our third pea in the pod. Seen him around at all?

Satoshi

Satoshi bit his lip. Okay, so for all she knew, he was still at Toshiki's. While that was good, and he really wanted to help Mizumi out with keeping them away...his honesty kicked in.

Well...see, about that. He's up and about. His cousin sent me a message asking about him. I'm trying to find him, he shouldn't be up if he's not well.

This was only going to end in disaster of some kind.

"I swear to you this:"

Satoshi should not have told Yukino a damn thing.

"If I find him, I'm not letting him go. And if he's harmed, I'm doing worse than what a Reaper did."

She's going to find him and probably kill everyone in the way.

Yeah, that was what he expected. Honesty was really going to kill Satoshi one of these days. It should've already.

But...Maybe...He started clicking off another text:

I'll keep looking over here and tell you if anything happens. You check on the other side of town.

"There. As long as I find him first, nothing will actually go to shit." Pocketing his phone again, Satoshi noticed a newer building...an aquarium? They really were trying to turn the beach into a more hectic tourist attraction, weren't they? Maybe Haruka was there. He jogged off, because the faster he got to that guy, the better off everyone would be.

Fubuki had eventually made the decision to leave the mall. She hadn't followed Aoi, but didn't really have any reason to stay at the mall any longer. Eventually, after walking around for awhile, she found herself at the beach. No one else was there, and she had the swimsuit on her. Probably not a good idea to go swimming in the ocean with no one supervising you for your first time. Fubuki just kind of sat there, looking out over the ocean, thinking.

Long, flowing purple hair of multiple spikes and quills at the top were guided toward the west by a calm breeze - a calm before a rampaging typhoon. This man of light blue eyes stared toward Fubuki as if an animal found its prey, yet expressed no joy or anxiousness. His face was stern, but lacking in any other state of emotion except "stoic". Wearing a sleeveless top, armed with green sashes at his collar and waist, black hakama hiding his bare feet on the sand... this warrior equipped a steeled mind and heart for what he had to do.

He had to give someone the power to destroy their past.

"You who wishes to avenge she who no longer exists - the Seed of Aqua Force, I, Kachidoki, wish to speak to you."

He spoke softly and kindly, to not alert or unsettle her.

At the voice from behind her, Fubuki shot up and turned around, staring wide-eyed at this. . . Purple-haired samurai-looking person. . . Who was he? How in the world did he know about Cyan? Also why did he have to approach her late in the day when she was alone at a beach? Fubuki pulled the collar on he sweater up to prevent this person from seeing her facial expressions clearly, then spoke, muffled by the sweater.

"I. . . Why do you. . . Know about that?"

"When I heard about your story from our master, I could not help but weep for your situation. I notice you're wearing her memory, and that's beautiful." Kachidoki avoided mentioning his leaders and instead, focused on trying to get this girl to be comfortable with his presence. Retreating her face behind the sweater's collar showed she was anxious around him - nervous. Giving a more gentle look with a smile, the samurai sympathized and continued.

"I heard of how you loathe the one responsible for her death - the one who gave the order. ... I'd like to help you."